Friday, March 30, 2012

Rice Casserole

When we were growing up we would have Sunday dinner at the dining room table every Sunday. Though we always sat down to dinner together throughout the week, Sunday's were special. We would sit in the dining room as opposed to the kitchen table, we would use the fine china and the silver, light candles and, for a while there, Mom even made us listen to classical music. I cannot remember a time in my life when we didn't have Sunday dinner.

For the longest time I never even questioned it....it was just what we did on Sunday's. Typically the meal would be a little more complicated as Mom and Dad would spend the afternoon cooking....time they simply didn't have after work during the week. We would have hors d'oeuvres beforehand and my parents would each have a cocktail before we sat down to dinner. As I look back on those times I realize those are some of my favorite childhood memories!

My parents would sometimes make martinis and though my brother and I were, of course, too young to have a drink they would throw their olives up the air and let us catch them in our mouths. I guess they knew they were in trouble when we started requesting they not shake the olives before throwing them in the air....I suppose a love of a good martini just runs in the family.

As the years passed, I realized not only was this a special family time for us, but it was also the time in which my parents enstilled in my brother and me the importance of good table manners and how one was supposed to behave at the dinner table. We weren't bad kids, and honestly we never acted out at dinner with others, but just because it drove our mother crazy, sometimes, on the ever so rare occasion, Allen and I would take our mashed potatoes and push them through our teeth onto our plate....it was simply referred to as "The Wheel". I realize how disgusting that is, but even to this day it makes me laugh!

I still love to think back on all the times we had drinks and appetizers out on my back porch, which to this day is my "happy place". There was something magical about sitting out there under the enormous tree in the middle of the porch enjoying the late spring, early summer evenings.

We still do Sunday dinner most every week and it is a tradition that warms my heart and rejuvenates me for the coming week. Though sometimes we are tired and it may sound nice to sit on the couch at home and go to bed early, each week I am so happy that we have continued this great weekly tradition and look forward to many more to come!

This dish is one that has been in our family for years, it is after all one of my brothers favorites! So simple, yet it takes the basic side of rice and turns it into to a dish that according to my mother is "Sunday Dinner Acceptable"!

Rice Casserole (Aunt Nellie, 1977)

1 stick butter

2 medium chopped onions

1 green pepper, chopped

1 cup rice (not minute rice)

1 can Campbell's Beef Consomme

1 cup water, fill soup can 3/4 full -- if using the microwave only do 1/2 cup

Salt and pepper to taste

Saute onions and green peppers in butter (this can be done on the stove or in the microwave).

1 comment:

Ruthie,I loved reading this! So funny...Sunday dinners (which at our house was around 1-2pm) hold such fond memories for me too! Our dad also shared his olives and sometimes, we had our own jar of maraschino cherries to sneak into...but only on Sunday!